


Remembrance

by daleksigma



Category: Doctor Who
Genre: Alternate Universe, Multi, Twelfth Doctor Era, death in heaven, doctor who: series 8
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-11-09
Updated: 2014-11-19
Packaged: 2018-02-24 16:24:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 7
Words: 3,977
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2588228
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/daleksigma/pseuds/daleksigma
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>A series of one-shots, set after Death in Heaven. Yes, lots of people died, but we all know that dead people are uploaded to the Nethersphere. What if the Nethersphere found a way to survive after Missy? After death, life would go on, and it is still possible to have a happy ending in the afterlife.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Danny Pink

**Author's Note:**

> Death in Heaven absolutely destroyed me emotionally. Still, there's a little glimmer of hope in that Danny Pink was still alive in the Nethersphere at the end of the episode. Presumably, all the characters who died are there. Therefore, they can still be happy after death, and everything is not miserable.

_256 Days After_

There were two calendars on the wall in Danny's flat. One marked the daily ebb and flow of life (or rather, the daily ebb and flow of death, as it was in the Nethersphere). It was peppered with meeting schedules and work parties and doctor's appointments. It was scrawled over and had those little pen scribbles in the corners that you always did when you couldn't get the ink to come out of the pen. It was ordinary. Clara would have said boring.

On the other, he marked off the days since he had last seen her. And when he'd gone to bed last night, the number had been 256. Two hundred fifty six days since Clara Oswald had gone from his life. Two hundred fifty six days since he had traded his one chance to be with his beloved to give life back to the child he'd stolen it from. Two hundred fifty six long days where things didn't get any easier.

Sure, he'd gotten a job. He'd started over. The strangest thing by far about the Nethersphere was the fact that life simply continued on. People didn't seem to want take advantage of the fact that this was life after death. They just reconstructed their old lives, with TV and iPads and nine to five workdays as if they had never passed away.

He'd tried to move on, but he couldn't forget her. He was dead, and yet he was morning the loss of a person still living.

It was with his head full of this thought that he happened across _her_. She was crossing the street across from the bookshop he frequented (even in death, he hadn't dropped his habit of reading), a shawl draped wrapped around her shoulders to shield her from the bite in the air.

He almost tripped over his own feet. That face was so familiar, he could have sworn it was…but no. Clara was alive and well. It had been hardly any time since he had seen her. She couldn't be here. No way.

"Clara?"

The woman turned and looked at him. It _was_ Clara. Everything about her was exactly as he remembered it. It was the face that haunted his dreams now that the child he had brought back to life's face no longer did.

"Yes?" She blinked at him. "Sorry, do I know you?"

He took a step forward, reaching out to her. "Clara, it's me!"

"Sorry, who?" She put her hands on her hip. "Am I supposed to know you?"

"It's Danny!"

"Danny…" She shook her head. "Not ringing any bells."

By now, they had crossed the street and she was walking rather quickly along the sidewalk. Danny stumbled around pedestrians, trying to keep at her side.

"Danny Pink. We teach at Coal Hill School together. We were on the phone when I died!"

"Can't help you, mate. I've never heard of Coal Hill School and I'd never seen a phone in my life until I died."

"But you're Clara Oswald."

"Yes, I'm Clara Oswald. Clara Oswin Oswald, pleased to meet you because I really haven't ever before."

"Oswin?"

Clara didn't have a middle name. Where did Oswin come from?

"Yes. Oswin. My middle name. Good night."

She bustled off, leaving Danny to bang his head on the book that he had recently purchased.

And that was how he met Clara Oswin Oswald.

***

Danny didn't leave it there. He wasn't the sort to give up, especially on a mystery that had to do with Clara. It was definitely Clara, and if it wasn't, she clearly had duplicate of some sort.

It didn't take him long—a little use of Google on an iPad sold by their own Steve Jobs—to figure out what was going on. There wasn't just one Clara Oswin Oswald here. There were at least fifty, all with varying versions of the same name: Oswin Oswalds and Clara Oswins and a few just plain Clara Oswalds. What had she done? He'd known Clara had been on some strange adventures, but what could possibly have created all these duplicates?

It wouldn't be too difficult to just ask her. So the next time he saw her passing the street by the bookshop (this was day 263), he asked her out for a drink.

"Hold on, aren't you the one who was chasing me the other day?"

"Yes. No. I'm sorry?" Danny cringed. "Yes, but it was a mistake."

She looked him up and down. "A mistake?"

"I thought you were someone I knew, but I made a mistake. Please, I can explain it all."

She was still looking at him appraisingly. "Alright. A drink. Nothing more."

But when he explained it to her, it became a little more than a drink. Clara Oswin Oswald had had no idea that she had duplicates walking around everywhere. It was however, she who suggested that it had something to do with the Doctor (describing him as a "handsome man in a bowtie who lives on a cloud").

"Do you think we should—you know—investigate?" Danny asked, peering uncertainly at her.

"Of course. We have to know. I've been wondering what the Doctor was getting up to."

And that was how he struck up a friendship with Clara Oswin Oswald.

***

The investigation got them nowhere. They met a few other Claras and Oswins and Oswalds, but none of them knew anything about Danny Pink or the original Clara Oswald. They did, however, all know the Doctor.

Danny and Clara, however, didn't care. They had been spending more and more time together, almost using their little investigation as an excuse to meet up. And the more they saw each other, the more Danny liked her. She was so like the Clara he knew, and yet so different. Peppy and strong-willed and sharp-tongued, and yet she was a Victorian barmaid and governess with a completely different life.

It took him a while, but finally Danny figured it out. There was no point in continuing to pretend that he was trying to figure out what his living girlfriend had done. He had to realize what he had found here, in this life that he had now.

The day that he asked her out on a date (and she accepted with a "I thought you'd never ask") was the day he took down his second calendar. The 312th day was the day he stopped marking what he'd lost in life and realized what he'd found in death.


	2. Osgood

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Osgood's death was the worst. It was just so pointless and cruel, and I wanted her to be a companion so badly. Here's how I think her life went in the Matrix afterwards.

_3 Days After_

The most frustrating thing about being dead was that she'd been extremely stupid to not prevent it. She'd known that the Master was tricky, and yet she'd fallen for it anyway. And now she was stuck in the Nethersphere, with no way to get back to Kate and UNIT.

No way to get back to the Doctor. _All of time and space_ , he'd said. Had he really meant it? Her, traveling with him? If she'd still had asthma in the Nethersphere, she would have had to reach for her inhaler.

It was because of this thought that she found herself on one of the many city streets that lined the inside of the ball that was the Nethersphere. The entire Promised Land was one big city, and the light pollution was horrendous. Still, despite the honking of horns and the wailing of sirens and the constant chatter of the streets, the Nethersphere wasn't all bad. It, for example, had an abundance of shops. Also, everyone had an abundance of money, thanks to the fact that the Master had _generously_ set up a fund to give a weekly allowance to every new incoming soul. Giving people money was always a good way to keep people happy and avoid too many unpleasant questions.

Money and shops were exactly what she needed right now. She selected a nice one two blocks away from her flat and began to wander through the racks of shirts and jackets, searching for the proper one. She found it in the back, a nice black coat with a vibrant red lining. She purchased it and a crisp white shirt from the woman at the counter, and headed out.

"Would you by any chance be Miss Osgood?" A man stood by the door of the shop.

It took Osgood about three seconds to recognize him. Kate Stewart had a painting of him aboard their aircraft. "Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart?" she said tentatively.

"At your service," he said.

His mustache really was just like it looked in the painting.

"How can—how can I help you?" It was so strange, to not need an inhaler at times like these.

"Thought you might like to see what we from UNIT have set up here, and get your technical expertise. I don't think I need to tell you how many of you died in that plane crash."

"Kate's not here, is she? Oh God, not Kate."

"No, not my daughter. I intercepted her fall just in time."

"Oh thank God. Yes, of course I'll come along."

"We were thinking of trying to find a way out of this 'Nethersphere.' After all, handling the strange and unusual is what UNIT has always been best at."

It might not have been a life traveling with the Doctor, but working with the legendary Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart was a pretty good way to spend the afterlife.

Three days into her death, Osgood and UNIT were already reunited.


	3. Seb

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I liked Seb, and was quite sad when Missy vaporized him. Luckily, he's an AI, so he can always come back.

_2 Days After_

Seb was alive. Strictly speaking, Seb had never been dead. After all, Seb was nothing more than a computer interface designed to ease a person's transition between life and death. He'd never been worried about such little trifling details as not being a real person, though.

There was, after all, a Nethersphere to run. There were forms to be filled out and dead souls to be checked in and pots of coffee to be made (the good kind, hopefully). Being vaporized by Missy wasn't going to stop him from doing his job.

So Seb returned to work on Monday with a smile on his face. Despite being a stickler for doing things properly—all the proper paperwork filled out and cleared with the correct agencies—he knew there were some things that needed to change. With Missy dead, he could finally make those changes.

He set his briefcase down in his office, and then walked down the hall to the kitchen. There, he dug feverishly through the drawers until he found what he was looking for: a tin of instant coffee. Without a second's hesitation, he darted across the room and dumped its contents into the bin.

He was out of the room before a soul noticed what he had done. That day, when he called down the hall for coffee, the kind that was brought was fresh and tasty. Seb was victorious. 


	4. Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Because of course Cyber-Brigadier is still flying around the Earth, fighting crime/aliens. And he's running UNIT in the Nethersphere at the same time. I'm assuming that he managed to get a hold of one of those transport bracelets somehow, so he can go between worlds...because he's the Brigadier so of course he did.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A little short one, because the Brig already appeared in Osgood's story...

_The Same Day_

Brigadier Alistair Gordon Lethbridge-Stewart shot up into the sky, away from the Doctor and the now-dead Master. He found it exceedingly odd, to be in the body of a cyberman—and frankly this whole business with the Nethersphere was just outlandish—but he still had a duty.

He'd done away with his old enemy, once and for all. There had been one time when he had punched the man in the face after a brief hello—now he had shot the woman without so much as a word. Good riddance to her! The master had given them no end of trouble across so many years.

Now there was only one thing left to do: take to the skies. He would have briefly considered returning to the Nethersphere for good, but what would he do with a peaceful retirement and death? No, he would defend planet earth for as long as it needed defending from the monsters and the aliens and the creatures beneath the sea.

Because he was Brigadier Lethbridge-Stewart. And whatever the Doctor said, he did his job and he did it properly. He reached for the transport bracelet on his cyber-arm. He would return to being a cyberman when the world needed it, but for now he had some business in the Nethersphere.  A certain Miss Osgood had probably just arrived. It might do UNIT some good to rope her in to the division they had set up there….


	5. Ianto Jones

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Inspired by [this](http://iveregenerated-butitsstillme.tumblr.com/post/102407959439/rorys-visit-to-the-nethersphere-inspired-by-x) gifset and [this](http://chroniclesofchiswick.tumblr.com/post/102184137213/int-the-nethersphere-day-seb-turns-around) tumblr post.

_Unknown Days Before_

There was a man banging on the door of the Nethersphere entrance department. On a normal day, Seb would not have minded, but a combination of bad coffee and being swamped with work made the noise impossible to ignore.

The guy had been banging on the door all day. His hand had to be at least a little sore by now.

Seb had a stack of paperwork to fill out on his desk, but he had been staring at an empty box ("Cause of Death") on a single form for five minutes now. Strictly speaking, according to the rules (and Seb always followed the rules), visitors were not allowed in the Nethersphere Welcome Department: after their initial admission to the afterlife. However, this was getting out of hand. He slowly raised himself to his feet, determined to step outside for a moment to speak to the nuisance.

A handsome man in a business suit nearly punched Seb on the shoulder when Seb opened the door. He pulled his hand back just in time, and Seb noticed that his knuckles were rather red.

He put on his slimiest smile. "Must get a bit...frustrating...banging on the door all day. Why don't you just—go home?"

"You have him in there."

"Uh—who's him? Frankly, who are you?"

"Ianto Jones." He leaned around Seb and called into the building. "Jack! Jack, can you hear me? I've been here for years. _Years!_ And no one told me he was coming here! No one, not until now!"

"There's no need to shout."

"Yes, there is, if you won't let me see him."

"Are you referring to—ah—a certain Jack Harkness?"

The man stopped trying to squeeze past him and stared. "Yes."

"Well, we've had some trouble with him. Never can get him to stick around. We just plop him in the temporary waiting room whenever he comes by."

"I want to see him."

"Well, maybe you can give me a _phone number_ and I could give you a _call_ when he comes by? It'd be a toy bit nicer than banging down our doors."

Ianto looked ready to argue, but finally his face fell. "Fine. Call me."

Seb fished a piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to Ianto, who scrawled a phone number on it.

He smiled at Ianto, and made an "I'll call you" motion with his fingers as he shut the door.

Captain Jack Harkness was a continual problem for the Nethersphere. They never could seem to get him to stay put. He and a man called Rory Williams had required the institution of a temporary waiting room for the dead who frequently return to life. They'd gotten Rory eventually, though; he now lived in a flat at the top of the Nethersphere with his wife.

It wasn't long before Captain Jack returned to them—less than a week, in fact. Whatever his line of work was these days, it was just as dangerous as ever. He died with enough frequency to alarm even Seb, who had welcomed millions to the Nethersphere.

"Ah—just a moment," he caught Jack on the arm as he swaggered off to the waiting room.

Jack's face brightened. "Is Rory back?"

"No, I'm afraid he's become a permanent resident. There is—um—another matter. A Mr. Ianto Jones was asking after you a few days ago. I've given him a call and arranged a meet-up."

In a moment, Jack slammed him against the wall, holding him by his usually immaculate collar. "You think that's funny?"

"No, he's—" Seb motioned helplessly at the door.

Jack turned, and there stood Ianto in the doorway. Ianto's eyes glistened with tears. Jack was dumbstruck, and for almost a minute, neither man spoke.

"I'm—" Jack began.

"You don't have to say it." Ianto looked at the ground. "There was nothing you could have done to save me."

Their eyes met. Jack's face split into a grin. And suddenly, the two men were embracing. Ianto was crying and Seb almost thought he saw Jack's shoulder's shake.

He was aware that he was intruding on a very personal matter, but there wasn't anywhere for him to go. He had a feeling, though, that he'd be witnessing this sort of spectacle quite few more times.

And sure enough, every time that Captain Jack Harkness died, Ianto Jones was waiting at the door of the Nethersphere Welcome Department, to welcome him home.


	6. Amy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> There's a completely different story coming later for Rory, even though both of them feature Amy and Rory. Also, it's from Seb's perspective again because I enjoy writing Seb.
> 
> The number 8035 days come from the fact that I've attempted to figure out the year Amy died, and came out with 1994 (she started traveling when she was 21, since that's 14 years after she was seven, and she said that she'd been traveling with the Doctor for 10 years in Power of Three, which makes her 31 in Angels Take Manhattan. She and Rory were sent back to 1938 by the Weeping Angel, and Amy died at the age of 87. Therefore, 1994), which is 8035 days before 2016, when Death in Heaven takes place.

_8035 Days Before_

It was a slow day at the Nethersphere Welcome Department. The coffee was lukewarm, the new arrivals were all dead of old age, and few people seemed even the slightest bit surprised that there was an afterlife. Seb always enjoyed the look on people's faces as they tried to comprehend where they were. Today, he was getting nothing but boring credulous old people. 

Not even Rory or Jack were here to break up the day. Rory, well, he was already a permanent resident. Seb was quite proud of that. He'd finally gotten the elusive centurion to stick around for good. Still, he missed having the odd conversation with the guy. And Jack, who knew what Jack was doing? Obviously not dying, though, or Seb would have someone interesting to talk to. 

"New arrival, number 11!" a voice called out, interrupting Seb in the middle of pouring himself a new coffee. He grabbed another mug and poured a second one. He imagined number 11 would need it.

He made his way down the hall, softly whistling a tune, and backed through his office door, holding the coffees steady. He turned around and set the coffees down on the table.

Number 11 was an old woman--another one--, tall and thin with a streaks of grey in her dyed red hair.

"Coffee?" Seb said.

"Where am I?" the woman asked--no, demanded. "How did I get here?"

Seb checked the woman's file. Amy Pond--no, Williams. Age 87. Cause of Death: old age. 

He decided to ignore her question. They'd get there. "We have some forms for you to fill out. Just a bit of paperwork."

She knocked the papers out of his hand. "No, you're going to tell me where I am. Do you have something to do with the Doctor? Because I haven't seen him in sixty years, and if he's waiting until now to get us into another mess, I'm gonna kill him."

Seb rubbed his hand.  _Really!_ So rude. He gathered up the papers.

"I'm sorry--the Doctor?" Seb knew all about the Doctor, his boss's boyfriend, but he was under a strict confidentiality agreement with his employer to not speak a word about him. "And might I ask--who is 'us'?"

Amy Williams blinked at him and looked a bit lost. "I--no one. It's just me now. Has been for five--God, it's been five years. That's so long."

"We have been trying to contact family members," Seb plowed on. "But there's so much admin. Still--"

He stared at the file of deceased family members. Well, that couldn't be right. 

"Do you happen to know a Mr. Rory Williams?" he asked slowly. Couldn't be the same one. That would be too much of a coincidence. 

"Rory..." Amy grabbed the back of the chair.

"Would that be the same Rory Williams that we had show up back in Roman times? All those plastic centurions who were given personalities and then deleted...and again in the, well, it'd be in your future now, but we pick up people from all kinds of time periods."

"Yes, yes it would be." Amy leaned forward. "Where is he?"

It was him!  _Permission to squee!_ This day had gotten so much better.

Seb gave her his most pleasant oily smile. "I'll give him a call and arrange a meetup. Sound good?"

"Where is he?"

Amy Williams was quite the abrasive sort. Still, Seb was used to it. There were plenty of crabby dead people out there. He picked up the phone and gave Rory a call. He should  really do that more often. The man was quite pleasant to speak to.

When he finished his conversation, he turned to Amy Williams. "I left a message, but if you'd like to go visit him, I can give you an address."

"Yes. Tell me where he is."

He scribbled down an address and handed it to her. 

So, when Amy Williams had filled out all her paperwork and been given Seb's who schpeal about being dead, she went down to the address of Rory Williams.

She knocked timidly on the door, as if she were afriad of what she might find inside.

An old man opened the door. His eyes grew wide. "I got Seb's call. I thought he was just making fun of me. I didn't think that you would be--"

"Of course I'm here, stupid face. You stayed dead this time, so I had to come to you."

"I'm...sorry?" Rory said.

But Amy's eyes were full of tears. She pulled him in close.

After that, there were no more words. It was their first kiss in 5 years. They had to make it a good one. 


	7. Rory Williams

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, it's a short one. I just really wanted an excuse to make a joke about Rory Williams dying for like the 100th time.

_ The Same Day _

They'd been living a peaceful life. That was all Rory had ever wanted, right from the start: a peaceful life. Well, they'd been living a peaceful death, anyway. He had, after all, passed away several years ago, and his beautiful wife five years later.

They lived in a nice flat on the bottom side of the Nethersphere. They enjoyed their ordinary lives. She was happy. He was happy. Everything was fine.

And then it had to rain. Then they had to all get downloaded back into their bodies. They'd gotten up from that very same grave that he had seen all those years ago with the Doctor and marched off with an army of Cybermen.

It was the Doctor, he was sure of it. The Doctor was at the heart of this, wherever he was and whatever he was doing now. Cybermen didn't just appear out of nowhere.

He had a few hours of panic while he was in that cyber outfit trying to find Amy, who had apparently wandered off to a different part of the graveyard, looking for him.

He caught sight of her just as the rest of the Cybermen took off to fly into the clouds.

She spoke in the same metallic voice as the rest of them. "We should follow them."

He nodded. He had heard the command inside his head just as the rest of them had. "The army of the dead will save the land of the living!" And of course: "This is the promise of a soldier."

Rory had been a soldier. He had been a soldier for over 2000 years, however little he tended to think about it. He knew about that promise. So he nodded when Amy agreed to fly into the clouds.

The clouds burned. And as they did, every soul appeared back in the Nethersphere, as if nothing had changed. Rory was still sitting on the couch, reading a book. Amy was resting her head on his shoulder. He put an arm around her.

"Did we just—" he asked.

"Yep."

"We were—"

"Uh huh."

"And then we—"

"Yes."

Rory shook his head. "We're dead. Again."

Amy caught sight of his expression and just laughed. Somehow, the universe had found a way to kill off Rory Williams one last time.


End file.
